All About Gin (Vital Information)

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[Artemis Webb]

"“Nothing is more pleasurable than to sit in the shade, sip gin and contemplate other people's adulteries, and while the wormy apple of marriage still lives, the novel will not die.”
--John Skow

"“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
--Humphrey Bogart
Casablanca

Gin and its Lowlands cousin Genever (Jenever in Belgium) are white spirits that are flavored with juniper berries and so-called botanicals (a varied assortment of herbs and spices). The spirit base of Gin is primarily grain (usually wheat or rye), which results in a light-bodied spirit.

The chief flavoring agent in both Gin and Genever is the highly aromatic blue-green berry of the juniper, a low-slung evergreen bush (genus Juniperus) that is commercially grown in northern Italy, Croatia, the United States...

Most Gin is initially distilled in efficient column stills. The resulting spirit is high-proof, light-bodied, and clean.

[dmz]

Me three. The blend of herbs and spices is wonderful.
I just don’t like getting drunk. Wish they had alcohol-free gin! ;-)

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There is a way to not get drunk while drinking gin. It’s a bit difficult, but you may want to give it a try. I have, and failed miserably.

Don’t drink so much.

[PfromHoGro]

Hendricks seems okay.. AT FIRST.. ‘cause everything tastes like cucumbers the next day.

Rankings:

Tanguerrey: Best for gin & tonics
Beefeaters: Best for on the rocks martini
Bombay Sapphire: Best straight up martini

Please do not mix Sapphire with anything and keep the garnish to a minimum.

[BreezyDog]

I always hated the look of pickled beets until my brother made me taste one a couple of years ago. I love ‘em. I started drinking bourbon by mixing it with lemonade. Yum...Lynchburg Lemonade.

[ottbmare]

There is a way to not get drunk while drinking gin. It’s a bit difficult, but you may want to give it a try. I have, and failed miserably.

As I pointed out up-thread, when you get older even one drink can impair you. I'm affected by just one drink. Wish I could have several, but I'd be asleep after the second. So I have to limit myself to one, alas. And I don't even have a chance to have a drink every day.

[dmz]

At 52, I’m no spring chicken, either. And my comment was made with tongue fully in cheek.

[andy58-in-nh]

As some of you already know, I'm very particular about my martinis. The problem with shaking a martini is that it tends to over-dilute the gin with water, and it also diminishes its floral character, which is a primary reason for selecting gin over vodka in the first place.

For that reason, I usually prefer the stirring method: after spooning a small amount of vermouth over ice and adding the gin, immediately transfer the contents to a prepared and chilled martini glass with two or three good quality flavorful olives - not those tasteless, over-processed Manzanillas.

If you must shake - try this: use a stainless steel shaker prechilled in the freezer. Note: chill the top and bottom separately - it's easier to close an ice-cold shaker than to open one. Add one ice cube only per jigger of gin you plan to decant and drink. Spoon a small - very small - quantity of dry vermouth over the ice and then add the giin. Cap and shake twelve times gently up and down (if you shake it more than that, well, you know what they say...) then strain and enjoy.

[pf flyers]

You might also want to store your spirits in the freezer. That way the ice and booze are at the same extremely cold temp. As you shake your mixture with ice you get nice little shards that make for a bracing concoction.

Also, after many years of experimentation, I have discovered that my limit is precisely one martini.

[Chode]

yup... but it's hard to find in bars

[dfwgator]

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I’m pilled you don’t notice him,
He only comes out when I drink my gin.

-The Who, Quadrophenia

[PfromHoGro]

One is the perfect number, because 2 is too many and 3 is not enough.

“If you can do 3, you can do 30.”

Works for Tequilla & Gimlet shots too.

[andy58-in-nh]

I have tried storing gin in the freezer, only to discover that it also tended to interfere with the delicate floral qualities that make gin a worthwhile endeavor. In fact, the only distilled spirits that I have found to be improved by storage at sub-freezing temperatures are vodka (especially the real Russian stuff), Greek ouzo (anise-flavored and high-octane) and Scandanavian Aquavit, which is flavored with caraway seeds and anise, among other things, and burns like Hell otherwise.

For the record, my general limit is two martinis and rarely do I exceed that. As Dorothy Parker once wrote:

"I love to drink martinis, two at the very most, after three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host..."

[DE50AE]

I am partial to Bombay Sapphire myself.

Yes, as am I. Goes down like water.

One martini, two martini, three martini, floor.

Back when I was young, of course.